Pickles Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 Heads up for those on the roads tomorrow: lorry drivers in France have apparently called a strike from tonight until Tuesday, with all the possible accompanying operation escargot, road blocks etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulT Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 The French have developed strikes in to an art form.Was due to travel over on the 01:05 on Sunday - thankfully changed to 01:23 on TUESDAY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Anybody know what they are striking about?I had the impression that most drivers were self employed (or the equivalent thereof) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pickles Posted January 19, 2015 Author Share Posted January 19, 2015 [quote user="Pierre ZFP"]Anybody know what they are striking about?I had the impression that most drivers were self employed (or the equivalent thereof)[/quote]The usual: they want longer hours and less pay.http://www.midilibre.fr/2015/01/19/debut-de-la-greve-des-routiers-blocages-de-camions-et-operations-escargot,1112669.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 For a 46 hour week and a driver working for a company picks up, before tax approx 1400€ a month apparently and they say that it is not enough to live on.Belgian drivers earn about 1000€ a month more than that apparently, which I would have thought would have been how much french drivers earn.They want a further 100€ a month. Doesn't sound unreasonable to me. Although, with all the strikes we have seen in the past, why they are on such a poor rate of pay seems odd to say the least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 In theory the day(s) of the strike should be the best days to travel, less poids lourds on the roads but as most companies wisely use foreign distribution companies probably not.Then there is the blocking of roads, merguez on the barbecue etc but at this time of year I reckon they will just sit at home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulT Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Do not know is French companies are the same as UK ones but a UK driver wrote about his and his colleagues experiences......Apparently, supermarkets give them a set time to deliver at. Fine all the time traffic is flowing but when there are jams they can be late. The supermarkets either reject their load or wait them to wait for ages before unloading them.For the long distance ones the cab becomes their home with no mod cons. Must be very boring for those drivers who cannot travel at weekends - just sat in an Aire twiddling their thumbs.He was also complaining about the pay.So I do have sympathy with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 The other major problem is that many companies now employ foreign drivers who work for lower wages or are on contracts based on their country of origin which means they get paid even less, so the French lorry drivers' wages are being held down.And transport companies have been dropping like flies recently thanks to competition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulT Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 and if they have enough money behind them they can force out the competition and then raise their prices Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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